The Forsaken One
by blkprophet
Summary: "You terrible mess of a child! We should've gotten rid of you while we could!" Vermillion Oakes was a quiet, soft-spoken girl, that made sure to only speak when spoken to. She seems like the perfect, most amazing child in some peoples eyes. She never made any friends, because she never went to school, but wild animals were the only friends she could ask for...
1. Prologue

❝ If you're as forsaken as you say you are, why are we still here? ❞

* * *

Vermillion Oakes is as sweet as can be. Her parents, on the other hand, are not in the slightest way sweet. They were cruel and terrible. Anytime poor Vermillion would ask a simple question, they would flip out on her. "Mom, why is my hair brown, and yours blonde?" Punishment. "Dad, why can I light up my lamp without touching it?" Punishment. "Why can I see into animal's thoughts?" Punishment. 

She just realized that anytime she asked anyone a question, she would get punished. This drove her into a frenzied fear of anyone, and everyone. Except for animals of course. 

People would ignore the poor girl- even though she had ragged, dirty clothes, and plenty of bruises- while she played with the wildlife. She would play with deer, rats, wolves, stray dogs, snakes, birds, and butterflies just to name a few. 

She was fine for a couple of years, up until her 11th birthday. This is where her whole world fell apart. Well, more than it already had.


	2. Chapter 1

_"Why the living hell would we ever, ever, ever, let her go! Are you insane? Do you need mental help? What are you even saying?"_

 **VERMILLION** could already hear the fighting. She looked through the back window into the house and saw her mum and dad screaming at each other. _'Just like always'_ She thought, wishing they would stop yelling because it was scaring the animals. She sighed, brushing the dirt off of her two sizes too large sweater, and started for the woods near her house. She wasn't going to run away, no, she just needed a calm, quiet place to hang out with her friends. Animals.

Vermillion carefully wove her way through the tough bushes and jumped over big rocks, trying to get away from the house as quickly possible, without alarming her parents about her 'little adventure.' That was the least of her worries she realized, as she had run into a tree, and now had a bloody nose.

"Shit..." She quietly whispered, hoping her parents wouldn't ask about the bloody nose when she got back home. She knew they didn't care, but it was a good idea to hope they never found out about her adventures into the woods. She realized that her nose felt like it was being cut off, and she vaguely remembered hearing a small cracking noise. But that still wasn't the last of her worries, and certainly not the least.

She heard bushes rustling a bit off from where she was sitting, bleeding with what she thought was a broken nose. But, she also heard a voice. It was strong, but he sounded old.

"To whoever made that awful sounding cracking noise, I'd love to help you," The old man's voice said, booming through the woods. Vermillion wanted to scream. The last thing she wanted was for someone to get in trouble for _her_ breaking her own nose. It was all her fault. All of it. Every single thing. At least, _she_ thought it was.

She jumped in surprise as the person the voice seemingly belonged to simply walked into the area that she had broken her nose in. Vermillion hadn't noticed earlier, but it was sort-of a clearing in the woods. There were still lots of trees, of course, but there wasn't as many bushes or rocks.

The man had long, grey hair, and a silver beard to match. His eyes were twinkling and blue, hidden behind half-moon spectacles, and he was wearing a **very** strange outfit. A cloak was draped over his shoulders. If Vermillion hadn't been on the ground, clutching her bleeding nose in pain, she probably would have laughed at his mismatched clothing style.

"Are you- by any chance- Ms. Oakes?" She heard the man softly say, and she jumped a bit, and softly nodded at him. He just chuckled, grabbed a wooden stick from his pocket, and pointed it at her. Vermillion just whimpered and backed up against the nearest tree- which still had blood stained on it, from her last 'adventure.'

"I won't harm you, calm down." His soft voice called out to her, and she listened to him and calmed down quite a bit. She squeezed her eyes shut, and heard something snap, so she felt her nose, and it felt fine again! No more blood, too.

"T-thanks," She whispered, not wanted to offend the man. "B-b-but who a-are you?" She eyed him cautiously, as though he would put a gun to her head any second with her large, reddish-brown eyes.

"I," The man said, pointing to himself. "Am Professor Dumbledore. And you just so happen to be exactly who I'm looking for." The man looked too sweet. There had to be a catch.

"P-Professor? Are y-you some k-kind of t-teacher?" She said, mentally punishing herself for her stutter.

"Yes, a headmaster of a school named Hogwarts. It's for special people just like yourself. _Magically_ special people." She was getting less and less suspicious the longer she just made talk with him. If he _really_ wanted to hurt her, he would not have fixed her nose and waited this long to do it.

"I'll come to this school. I-It sounds c-c-cool..." She thought she would get through one sentence without stuttering, but apparently, she could not even do **that**.

"I will await your owl... unless you want to go shopping for your supplies with me?" Dumbledore was too sweet.

"I w-would l-l-love that." She stuttered out, embarrassed at her own clothes now. They were ragged, dirty, and two times bigger than her.

"Let's go then." He exclaimed, holding out his hand for her to take. She resisted for a second, then took his hand in hers.

And she smiled.


	3. Chapter 2

**AS** Vermillion and Dumbledore walked through the magical entryway to the magical world of Diagon Alley, Vermillion couldn't help but to gasp. Diagon Alley was absolutely beautiful. More beautiful than anything else she had ever seen before. They had just come through a brick wall, which was now transforming back into its original brick wall form. But, the most amazing sights were right in front of her.

There were many shops, each with a weird thing on sale. One shop in particular, had beetle eyes on sale in the window, while another shop had brooms on pedestals in the window, while a different one had 'wands' or as her mum would say, "filthy little sticks" on sale. She was starting to think that this was all just an amazing dream, and she would be woken up by her father or mother in a couple of minutes.

"This is not a dream, Ms. Oakes, if you were wondering. You really are a witch- and a very amazing one, if I do say so myself." It seemed as if Dumbledore could sense her fears, and she liked him comforting her. "Now, let us get you a wand, Ms. Oakes!"

As she walked into the shop named 'Olivanders' she was greeted with a rather odd sight. A young man with wavy, dark brown hair, was waving a wand in the air, only to have it snatched from him by a rather old looking grumpy man. Vermillion sat down in an old spiral chair in the corner to wait, and watched as the old man, who she was guessing was Olivander, grabbed a lengthy black box from a shelf filled with plenty of other boxes, and take out the wand, and describe it, but she couldn't hear what Olivander said about it. Too bad...

Suddenly, as the young man waved the wand, a bright light took over the store, and blinded her. Olivander seemed to think that this wand was just perfect for him, because he gave him the black, long box, and the boy put some gold coins on the counter and rushed out carrying his new wand in its box.

Olivander seemed to notice Vermillion sitting in the corner, because he randomly said, "Ah, Ms. Oakes! I thought I might see you today. Yes... it looks as though you're in a bit of a rough shape, but we might fix that later." She blushed, and stood up from the chair, dragging her feet on the ground all the way to the counter of the shop.

Olivander brought out a measuring tape, and starting measuring her, while asking her questions. "What is your wand hand?" She guessed that he meant the hand she writes with, so she raised her right hand. "Right... let us get you a wand now, Ms. Oakes..."

"How about," Olivander said, getting an emerald box from one of the top shelves. "Ash, unicorn hair, reasonably springy, five and a half inches..." Olivander gently put the wand into her hands, and watched as Vermillion waved the wand, and blew a hole in the wall. "Obviously not," He said with a distressed face, raising his own wand, and fixing the wall. "How about... Hm... Maybe..." He was muttering to himself, as he pulled a vermillion colored box down from the shelf. When he got closer, she realized the box had a large 'O' on it in gold lettering.

"Try... this one, please," He said, looking straight into her eyes, and gulping. "If I am not wrong, this wand worked for a lot of your family... it might work for you, too"

Vermillion took the wand in her dirty hands, and waved it, and it was amazing. Green vines sprouted everywhere that the wand was waved. Butterflies had appeared too, and Olivander was obviously shocked that the wand reacted like that. He made quick work of the mess, and gave the wand's box over, saying feverishly that she didn't need to pay.

Little did she know, a certain blonde-haired boy was very angry that _she_ didn't have to pay, just because she made some stupid vines grow.

When Vermillion walked out of Olivander's smiling with her vermillion box in hand, she didn't expect anything to go wrong. But, right when she walked out, a boy with platinum blonde hair and a pointed face pinned her to the wall, holding his wand up to her throat. "How did you get him to not make you pay?! Answer me right this instant!" The pale blonde boy nearly screamed, but luckily, Dumbledore saw all of this, and gently pulled the boy off, taking Vermillion by the hand and leading her away.

Little did she know again, a certain wavy-haired boy was going to beat up the pale boy, just because he assaulted someone without any reasoning behind it. Or at least, he thought there was no reasoning behind it.


	4. Chapter 3

**ONCE** Vermillion had gathered up all the books and supplies she needed for Hogwarts, she shakily said good-bye to Dumbledore, and got a room closest to the sea. She yawned, because of how long the day had been. She slowly fumbled over to the bed and threw herself onto it. She curled up in her blankets, and slowly closed her eyes, letting sleep overcome her.

 _"You terrible child! Why don't you just die already! No one likes you, so why are you still alive!?"_

Vermillion woke up in a cold sweat, tears running down her face silently, before she realized that she was okay. She started to calm herself and turned on a light that was on the night-stand and wrapped her arms around her legs, softly sobbing. She heard someone knock on the door of her room, and she jumped. Who would want to come in her room so early in the morning?

"Anyone in here? I heard screaming and crying, so I wanted to see if it was all okay," She heard a boy's voice say. "If it's alright though, I can just leave..." "Come- come in," She said with a hoarse voice, unlocking the door. "Please."

The door opened and two boys, not just one, stumbled in. One had jet-black hair, and kind hazel eyes, while another had light brown hair with emerald green eyes. "Oh," the one with black hair said, taken back from her ragged appearance. "You don't look so good; do you need food? Water? Anything you need, I'll happily give you." She faintly smiled and nodded. "Water and food, please." She smiled even wider as he quickly ran downstairs, leaving his friend behind him, standing in the doorway to her room.

"You can come in, you know." She softly said to the brown-haired boy, chuckling as he looked around and pointed at himself. "Me?" He said, looking at her, obviously confused. "Of course, you, who else would it be? Am I talking to myself or something," She said, patting the spot on the bed next to her. "Sit down..." She trailed off, realizing that she didn't know either of their names. "Remus. Remus Lupin," The boy replied, noticing that he didn't say his name or James' name before. "And my black-haired counterpart is James Potter, if you wanted to know."

"Well, it's nice to meet you, Remus, and James was nice too..." She said softly, not wanting to hurt anyone's feelings. Just as she said that, James burst into the room, carrying a jug of water and lots of weird looking snacks. "T-thanks-" James put all the food and water on the small table sitting over by the window. " Don't mention it. What's your name again?" James said, looking over his shoulder at her. "My name's Vermilion! D-do you perhaps want to be friends?" She muttered to him, terrified that he would say no.

"Of course!" Both Remus and James said at the same time, grinning at each other. She started blushing and she looked down at her feet, embarrassed. "T-thank you..." She said, blushing and looking down at her feet. "Why are you thanking us?" Remus said, standing up and going over to her. "I-I've just n-never had an-any friends b-before..." Both Remus and James looked at her, feeling quite sorry for her. They didn't know that she didn't have anyone else.

"Hey, are you going to Hogwarts too, Vermillion?" James said, changing the subject. "Yeah, do you know how to get on the train? Dumbledore kind of didn't tell me where 'Platform nine and three quarters' is... I'm not even sure it even exists..." She muttered, feeling grateful that James changed the subject.

"We'll tell you how to get on tomorrow Vermillion, good night! I hope you sleep well. Knock on my room's door if you need anything." James said, giving her a piece of paper with a number on it. "C'mon Remus" He called out to his friend as he left the room. Remus waved goodbye, and then walked out, closing the door behind her.

She walked over to the closed door, locked it, and then walked back over to her bed, jumping down onto the bed, curling back into her blankets. She smiled and let herself go back into a deep sleep.

And this time, she didn't wake up crying.


End file.
